Google still “Accidentally” collecting Personal User Information

“See no evil, hear no Evil and speak no Evil” is so 1980’s because in the recent turn of events, Google just played the role of Evil Keneivel and that too, unintentionally.

Apart from snapping photos of street corners, cars and roads, Google has been “accidentally” collecting personal information of all those individuals whose Wi-Fi network was not password protected.

It is just like those days when you walk in a library and turn Bluetooth detection ON in your cellphone. With a little bit of gimmickry, you can easily connect to any Bluetooth Enabled device, inside the library, IF it isn’t password protected.

Technically, Google has been collecting the Wi-Fi network names and Mac Addresses and this data was used in applications, such as – Google Maps. Even though the users and Google were never aware of the fact that they’ve been mistakenly collecting this data, but a survey team from Germany revealed that information and now Google has become aware of its incompetence.

The good thing is that, since cars are always moving so the data that is being collected, is in fragments. So even if someone wants to hack into something, he’d have to put in a lot of effort to deliberately attempt something dreadful.

Don’t be alarmed, because Google doesn’t intend on doing anything “surprising” with all those pictures and code snippets of Wi-Fi Data. It is just that, Street View Cars has been temporarily disabled until further notification and proper solution.

Nikki Malik holds a Masters degree in Computer Science and blogs about technology products in her spare time. She is a mother of three, full time mompreneur and maintains her career as a small business owner.